A Bevy of Beautiful Chicks

When I went to the place in the barn where I found the wayward chick yesterday, and checked up in the rafters to see how mother hen was doing, everybody was gone! I looked around, heard nothing, saw nothing but sheep lying around in the heat, and decided to check outside. There they were in the barnyard, the little Old English Bantam hen with SEVEN adorable chicks following her around. Sarah Holly was following me around and the hen immediately attacked her! I realized I would have to get the mom and chicks into a protected place or risk losing the chicks to cats or whatever. One little mom can't fight off everything, although this hen would try. And mom had to be famished from weeks of sitting on the nest without food or water. How the heck did she get them all down and collected together? Did she jump down herself and cluck them all down after her? Wish I had been there to see it. I somehow managed to grab each chick and put them in a sheep feed bowl. Catching mom took a bit of doing, and in this heat, whew! Took them all to the chicken room and got mom some water and crumbles. She had taken all seven under her wings and hidden them from view. Suddenly she had been put in with lots of big chickens, most of whom she didn't know. Who knows what they would do to her chicks, but I was confident she would fight them off, too. It would take a couple of days for them to get used to each other and I will keep an eye on things. In the meantime, she drank and drank, and pecked eagerly at her egg layer crumbles. Mom seemed to like the big feed bowl and didn't try to move them. I put a cat carrier next to the bowl in case she wanted to move them in there. I adore new chicks, and especially from these Old English Bantams. It wasn't too long ago that I got them from Mary Liebau, the long distance rider turned shepherd, who got them from a friend who didn't want them. Mary was going to take them to market and offered me some. They are wonderful birds, good moms and egg layers, and beautiful to look at.